The scope of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) applications within industry have expanded rapidly in recent years. This is because it can provide many advantages over traditional energy conversion systems including: tolerance to high temperature, high energy conversion efficiency, environmental friendly, and so on. It is noted that for preparing any common fuel cell for performance test or generating electricity, its fuel as well as air streams must be preheated to a designated operating temperature, which can be as high as 600° C. to 1000° C. As the SOFC is usually operating at extremely high temperatures and it is usually an assembly composed of elements made of brittle materials, such as planar cells, mica sheets and glass cement, it is important to take special precaution in view of the stability and integrality of a SOFC stacks when it is being transmitted.
It is noted that for preparing any common fuel cell for performance test or generating electricity, its fuel as well as air streams must be preheated to a designated operating temperature, which can be as high as 600° C. to 1000° C. for SOFCs, before they can be fed into the fuel cell stack. Conventionally, such preheating is performed in a manner that: after the assembling of a SOFC stack is completed, it is subjected to a load for stabilizing the same from tipping over for preparing the same to be move into a high-temperature furnace where it is heated to its designated operating temperature; and then, after performing a performance test upon the heated SOFC stack, it is cooled down and then moved out of the furnace manually to enter a control system while still under the stabilization of the load. However, it is noted that the whole transportation process of the SOFC stack must be performed with extreme care for preventing the SOFC stack from being damaged by tipping over, accidental collision or dropping. As the combined weight of the SOFC stack and its load can be too heavy to be move manually and at the same time trying to prevent the same from being damaged by tipping over, accidental collision or dropping, the use of any conventional manual method for transporting SOFC stack can be a very difficult task. Accordingly, there is already a transporting device adapted for transporting SOFC stacks in a safe and smooth manner, as the one shown in FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, the cell stack 1, being transported out of the gate 71 of a high-temperature furnace 71 after completing a performance test and cooling down, is sandwiched between a top plate 2 and a bottom plate 3, in which there are fixing rods being screwed on the top plate 2 and the bottom plate 3 for coupling the two to each other, whereas there are springs being arranged between the top plate 2 and their corresponding fixing rods 4 to be used for providing proper static loads. In addition, the cell stack 1 is integrated with a lifting device 9 by the use of four holding parts 91 fixedly secured to the four sides of the cell stack 1. Thereby, as soon as a crane 61 of a movable seat 6 is controlled to move into the high-temperature furnace 7 for connecting the joint 62 on the crane 61 with the lifting device 9, the movable seat 6 can be directed to move back for retrieve the cell stack 1 from the base 72 of the high-temperature furnace 7 and thereafter transport the cell stack 1 to a carrier 8. Thereafter, the carrier 8 can carry the cell stack 1 to a fuel cell control system.
Accordingly, there is already a transporting device adapted for transporting SOFC stacks in a safe and smooth manner, as the one shown in FIG. 1. IN FIG. 1, the cell stacks 1, being transported out of the gate 71 of a high-temperature furnace 71 after completing a performance test and cooling down, is sandwiched between a top plate 2 and a bottom plate 3, in which there are fixing rods being screwed on the top plate 2 and the bottom plate 3 for coupling the two to each other, whereas there are springs being arranged between the top plate 2 and their corresponding fixing rods 4 to be used for providing proper static loads. In addition, the cell stack 1 is integrated with a lifting device 9 by the use of four holding parts 91 fixedly secured to the four sides of the cell stack 1. Thereby, as soon as a crane 61 of a movable seat 6 is controlled to move into the high-temperature furnace 7 for connecting the joint 62 on the crane 61 with the lifting device 9, the movable seat 6 can be directed to move back for retrieve the cell stack 1 from the base 72 of the high-temperature furnace 7 and thereafter transport the cell stack 1 to a carrier 8. Thereafter, carrier 8 can carry the cell stack 1 to a fuel cell control system.
The advantage of the aforesaid device is that: by the arrangement of the top plate 2, the bottom plate 3, the fixing rods 4 and the springs 5, a pressure can be exerted uniformly on the cell stack 1 as a kind of protection, and the same time, by the use of the movable seat 6 and the crane 61 for transporting the cell stack 1, the dangers of the cell stack 1 during the conventional manual transportation process, such as being damaged by tipping over, accidental collision or dropping, can be avoided. However, as the carrier 8 is arranged separating from the movable seat 6 and the crane 61, the aforesaid device still has the following shortcomings:                (1) The movements of the movable seat 6, the crane 61, the carrier 8 should be controlled precisely for arranging those device at proper positions corresponding to each other and the high-temperature furnace 7 as well. Otherwise, the collisions between those moving units might be inevitable which not only many working hours will be wasted in the position adjustment of those moving units, but also the test efficiency is adversely affected.        (2) As the movable seat 6 and the carrier 8 are designed to be controlled separately and in an individual manner, it is not efficient with respect to working time.        (3) For smoothing the operation of the aforesaid transportation device, there should be space larger enough for the movable seat 6 and the carrier 8 to move around and occupy, so that the aforesaid transportation device is not suitable for working in a location with restricted space available.        (4) As soon as the carrier 8 carrying the cell stack 1 reaches the fuel cell control system, it is required to use the movable seat 6 and the crane 61 for picking up the cell stack 1 and then placing the same into the fuel cell control system, which can be very time consuming.        